Friday, August 8, 2008

My mini-primer on the Beijing Olympics (an OT post)

I began loving the Olympics as a kid, before they became just another reality show. I remember watching the 1968 Mexico City Olympics in my family room with a super bad cold, and was lucky to have my parents take me to the 1976 Montreal Olympics, with "Silly Love Songs" seemingly omnipresent on the radio.

That being said, a few thoughts on these Beijing games:

* For the moral compromises the IOC made to its "ideals" in order to cash China's humongous check, it reminds me of the old saying: "Now that we know what you are, we just need to set the price."

* I lurve me some Andres Cantor "goooooooaaaaallll" soccer calls. If you can get past the fugly U.S. soccer unis, enjoy:

* Channel 4 did a piece the other night on one of my favorite pieces of local sports trivia: Detroit was the runner-up to host the '68 Summer Olympics. (If anyone has the video, please send me a link?) In the meantime, check out this fascinating bid film the city put together, back when we were part of the First World, and had some civic hope.

Translated

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Based in suburban Detroit, I am an attorney running my own practice focusing on family law, business law, estate planning and entertainment law. I also have an extensive history in Detroit media, having been a founder of 89X, a long-time columnist for the Metro Times, and appearing on-air on a host of "The Lex Files" on the Michigan Talk Radio Network and a correspondent for "Backstage Pass" on Detroit Public Television, as well as various other radio stations.

"It's not a memo, it's a Mission Statement."

Welcome to my somewhat cranky, yet gregarious and optimistic, 60 Second Blog,featuring unique takes on anything and everything that I care about, which can be a lot. So, look for posts on Birmingham, Detroit, Michigan, the Great Lakes and beyond, politics, pop culture, music, sports, business and The Internets, and connecting the dots between them. Not just opinions, though, but the occasional modest proposal on how things could be better here, there and everywhere. The title? Well, the conceit is that each post will take less than 60 seconds of your precious time to read. I will occasionally go over that limit, so I will mark it as an "OT" post in the headline. For a bit more background on me, please check out a profile posted here. Thanks for visiting, and remember: when you kill time, you murder success. As always, cheers from The D.